Method for treating pouring orifices for drip-free containers



March 23, 1937. R. E. `mmm 2,074,382

METHOD FOR TREATING POURING ORIFICES FOR DEIP FREE CONTAINERS l ,L n l Rober-t E. Fard.. B5 MM! MM R.' E; FORD 2,074,382

Filed July 15, 193s 7 sheets-sheet 2 March 23, 1937.

METHOD EoR TREATING PouEING oEIEIcEs Foa DEI? FREE CONTAINERS March 23, 1937. R, E; FORD 2,074,382

METHOD FOR TREATING POURING ORIFICES FOR DRIP FREE CONTAINERS March 23,1931. R. E. FORD 2,014,382

" METHOD FORTREATING POURING ORIFICES FOR DRIP FREE CONTAINERS Filed July 15, 1933 '7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Q Se sz 65 5g Inventor: Rober-'t E. For'cl.

Bshfly 4 ttor-neys March 23, 1937.

R. E. FORD 2,074,382

METHOD FOR TREATING PORING ORIFICES FOR DRIP FREE CONTAINERS Filed July 15, 1955 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Invenl'or /I BSM'MMM R. E. FORD 2,074,382

METHOD FOR TREATING POURING ORIFICES FOR DRIP FREE CONTAINERS March 23, 1937.

, 1935 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed July l5 FigflS March 23, 1937. v R. E. FORD 2,074,382

METHOD FOR TREATING POURING ORIFCES FOR DRIP CONTAINERS Filed July l5, 1955 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 .Fig Inventor, 14| 7.35 v BSW 4M ttornega .Patented Mar. 23, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT` OFFICE METHOD FOR TREATING POURING ORI- .FICES FOR DRIP-FRIEE CONTAINERS Minneapolis, Minn.

Application July 15, 1933, Serial No. 680,598

7 Claims.

My invention relates to drip-free containers and the method and apparatus for treating pouring orifices thereof. It is the object of my invention to provide pouring orifices of containers 5 from which liquids are to be poured such as bottles, pitchers, cans and the like, with a substance which will not have any capillary affinity for the liquid to be poured, the result being that when the container is restored to containing position l the surface tension of the liquid going back into the container will be greater than any tendency of the liquid to cling to the surface of the orifices, with the result that liquid on the rim of the bottle neck will be drawn back over said surface and l return to the container and none of it will drip from any part of the orifice. Stated in another way, the prepared surface will be of such a nature that no part of the liquid being used will cling thereto, as, if Water were all or any considerable 20 part of the liquid, the surface would not be wet thereby.

It is a further object of my invention to produce containers such as bottles, pitchers, cans and the like adapted for the holding of liquid 25 to be poured therefrom, and having the pouring orifice such as the lip surrounding the neck of a bottle, the rim of a can, or the spout of a pitcher treated with a material such as wax or paraiiin or any suitable composition so that a layer thei'eof 30 will be adherent to the exposed parts ofthe pouring orifice and will have the effect of repelling the liquid so that the surface tension thereof may draw all of said liquid back into the container when it is erect and no part thereof drip there- 35 from.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a process for applying said liquid-repellant material to the top edge and rim of said containers in such manner that when the liquid is poured 40 therefrom and the vessel is reverted to erect position, the film of such material will be so placed as to prevent dripping, as above stated, and to employ a process which will provide such a film thin enough so it will remain on the bottle and 45 outside of the interior of the neck of the bottle so it will not be destroyed by the cork.

Diiiiculties are encountered in the provision of such a film for the reason that there is a tendency for the film to form on the inside of the bottle as 50 well as on the top edge and over the edge of the rim, there is a tendency for the material to solidify and form globules or drops on the top edge which will be easily knocked off, and there is a tendency for the film to form too` thick, which likewise 55 results in its easy destruction.

(c1. sii-1o) It is the object of my invention of process to provide steps for eliminatingthese undesirable results, and I vaccomplish this by the steps of process which consists in providing a suitable receptacle and melting and heating the liquidrepellant material therein, preliminarily heating the neck of the bottle or the surrounding portions of the orifice either by introducing it into the heated liquid-repellant material and there retaining it until the temperature of the edges of the orifice and adjacent surfaces are heated to a temperature above the melting point of the liquid-repellant material, or by providing a heated surface and placing the edges surrounding said orifice in contact with said heated surface until the temperature of adjacent portions thereof is terial and either wipe away part orall excess' melted material from the edges or hold the containers in position until such excess material is drained off. I then withdraw the container to a position usually upright, where the exceedingly thin film of liquid-repellant material remaining will harden and become firmly attached to the container.

It is a further object of my invention to provide forms of apparatus for carrying out the steps of my process. While this apparatus is shown specifically applicable to containers such as bottles, it will be understood that the principles of operation of the apparatus will apply to other forms of containers such as pitchers or cans.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear in connection with the detailed description thereof and the novel features of my invention are particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, illustrating a construction of I my invention and apparatus for carrying out the procesai Fig. 1 is an elevation view of part of a bottle having my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation ofthe neck of the bottle shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal part sectional viewvof a form of the apparatus for carrying out is a plan view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 3. Fig.' 4a is a fragmentary plan view of the vertical intermittent bottle shifter showing a modified carrier construction. Fig. 4b is a fragmentary elevation view of a portion of said carrier to show the same construction. Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation view on line 5-5 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is aV sectional elevation view on line 6-6 of Fig. 4. Fig. 7 is a. sectional elevation view on line 'I-'I of Fig. 4. Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation view on line 8-8 of Fig. 4. Fig. 9 is a sectional elevation view taken on line 9--9 of Fig. 4. Fig. 10 is a sectional plan view taken on line Ill-I0 of Fig. 9. Fig. 11 is a sectional elevation view on line II--II of Fig. 9. Fig. 12 is a sectional elevation view of another form of apparatus for carrying out my process taken on line I2-I2 of Fig. 13. Fig. 13 is a part sectional plan view taken on line I3-I3 of Fig. 12. Fig. 14 is a sectional elevation view on an enlarged scale taken on line I4-I4 of Fig. 13. Fig. 15 is a part sectional elevation view of another form of apparatus for carrying out the steps of my process. Fig. 16 is a sectional plan view of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 15 with the bottle containing carton removed. Fig. 17 is a fragmentary elevation view of the upper right-hand corner of what is shown in Fig. l5. Fig. 18 is a sectional elevation view of the upper part of the apparatus shown in Fig. 15 taken at right angles to the parts as shown there. Fig. 19 is a sectional elevation view showing the manner of applying the bottle dipping holder to a carton of bottles. Fig. 20 is a top plan view of what is shown in Fig. 19. Fig. 2l is a sectional view of what is shown in Fig. 19 with all parts inverted. Fig. 22 is a fragmentary view of a portion oi a bottle-holding carton showing the bottles positioned in individual compartments.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the upper part III of the neck of a bottle I I has applied thereto a coating I2 of some material adapted to repel the liquid to be contained in the bottle and to be poured therefrom, as, for example, liquid bluing, in which case the layer I2 will consist of water-re pellant material such as a firm grade of parain wax. The layer of said' paraiiin wax will lie upon the top of the expanded neck portion I3 of the bottle as at I4, and will extend a short distance down about the inside of the neck of the bottle, as at I5.

Such a. layer of liquid-repellant material must be firm, must cover the pouring surface completely, must be thin, and must be applied so as to remain adherent under all normal conditions of handling and use. For this layer I have employed diierent forms of parains, of which those with the highest melting points are preferable, beeswax, canauba wax, and combinations of the above. For use where the liquid is water or water solutions the highest melting point parafIin wax has been found effective and satisfactory.

The process of applying such a layer consists in heating the wax or other material to a desired temperature, preliminarily heating the neck of the bottle to cause the air to expand and be expelled around the mouth of the bottle, inserting the part of the bottle to be coated, either preliminarily heated or not as desired, into said heated wax and maintaining the temperature of said heated wax, retaining the portion of the bottle so submerged within said heated wax for a sufiicient duration of time to heat said portion to substantially the temperature of the heated .my invention taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 4. Fig. 4

wax, withdrawing the part to be coated from the wax, and removing excess wax from said part by holding the bottle in such position that full drainage is possible or by wiping the coated part of the bottle on a hot surface, or both, whereby a thin' lm will be produced.

Figs. 3 to 1l, inclusive, show a form of apparatus for automatically and rapidly performing the above steps to effect the desired application of said lm.

In this machine there are two rotating carriers, one, I6, being mounted onA a horizontal shaft I1 supported upon frame legs I8 and I9, said shaft having bearings 20 and 2| in transverse frame pieces 22 and 23. The second carrier comprises a horizontal rotatable table 24 of a semiconical shape as indicated at 25 in Fig. 7, which is provided with a surrounding gear 26 and is journalled on a thrust bearing 21 held in a casting 28 for vertical adjustment by means of a threaded hand nut 29, whereby the table 24 may be raised or lowered as desired. The casting 28 is secured to a transverse frame piece 30 by means of a bolt 3| upon which the same is pivoted and a bolt 32 passing through an oblong slot 33 in an ear 34 on casting 2B. By means of a setbolt 35 in Fig. 7 the casting piece 28 may be rocked upon pivoted bolt 3I more or less to place the table 24 more or less at an angle to the vertical for a purpose hereinafter to be stated.

The casting 28 is provided with a table 36 upon which is supported an annular trough member 31 formed above a mass of insulating material 38. The trough member 3'I is adapted to hold the Wax or other material as indicated at 39 which is kept in a properly fluid and heated condition by means of electrical heating elements 40 served by wires 4I. The trough member 31 has secured thereto an annular wall 43 to which is secured in spaced relation a second annular wall 44, being held in position by washer nuts 45, said walls 43 and 44 forming an annular passage 42 as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 7. And this carrier will, by reason of its contact with the heads of the bottles, and when the annular channel or passageway 42 is filled with bottles, as shown in Fig. 10, move the bottles uniformly along said channel at the leed at which the carrier 24 rotates. If the taille is hbrizontal in position, and with heated vax at a level above the projecting rings on the bottles 46, these portions of the bottles will dip within the melted wax for the entire period of a revolution of the carrier 24, as appears from an inspection'of Fig. 7. In some cases, however, it is desirable to keep the bottles in the wax only part of the time, in which case by means hereinbefore described, the carrier and table may be tilted and the bottles then will dip into the wax at one side only and preliminarily heat and drain at the other side.

As clearly appears from Fig. 7, the carrier I6 embodies a multiplicity of pockets 41 each adapted to hold one of the bottles 46, and the carrier I6 moves the bottles 46 in a vertical plane across the channel 42 and above the carrier 24 operative in a horizontal plane. Referring to Fig. 10, two chutes enter the channel 42 from opposite sides to admit the introduction into said Achannel of a bottle by carrier I6 and the simultaneous withdrawal of a treated bottle on the other side. The introduction chute 48 is formed by wing plates 49 and 58, and the withdrawal chute 5I is formed by wing plates 52 and 53.

Referring to Fig. 3, it will be noted that the width of the top surface 54 of the carrier I6, and

also the widths of the plates forming the pockets 41 is only a little more than one-half as great as the transverse dimension of the bottles to be handled. Also, that the guide plates 49 and 50 at one side and 52 and 53 at the other side of the `channel 42 (Figs. 4 and 10) are separated the same distances, sumcient comfortably to receive a bottle across one of its dimensions, but that these plates do not lie in the same vertical planes but plate 49 outside of the channel 42 is positioned close to one side of the vertical plane of carrier I6 and plate 52 insideof a vertical extension of channel 42 is positioned close to the other vertical limit of carrier I 6. For this reason bottles moved by carrier I6 are displaced laterally with respect to one another, as clearly indicated by full-line bottle designated 56 and dotted-line bottle designated 51 in Fig. 3.

A guideway formed by side rails 58 and 59 has at its bottom supporting plates 60 and 6I separated at 62 with a plate 63 bridging the gap there. An endless conveyor 64 runs over the plate 6I and forms the bottom of the guideway at that point, and a second endless conveyor 65 overlies plate 60 and discharges upon a receiving plate 66 at its front end immediately in front of the carrier I6, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

Power for driving the various instrumentalities is furnished by motor 61 transmitted through belt and pulley arrangement 68 to gear box 69 which operates drive shaft 18, and a,cam wheel 1I at one end thereof carrying a cam actuator 12 adapted to engage in slots 13 of a star wheel 14 mounted on shaft I1, which also has on it the V carrier I6,which arrangement gives said carrier an intermittent step-by-step rotary motion in a vertical plane. The other end of said shaft 10 has thereon a spur gear 15 adapted to mesh with change speed gearing 16 on a shaft 11. Through bevel gearing 16 and spur gears 19, 68 the belt conveyors 64 and 65 are driven at' different speeds, conveyor 64 being driven more rapidly than the conveyor 65, whereby bottles loosely stacked in the runway above conveyor 64 will be pushed forward and caused to contact in fixed relation above conveyor 65.

From shaft 11 there is driven by means of bevel gearing 8I a. vertical shaft 82 supported by a thrust bearing on a bracket 83 and adapted to y be lifted vertically for a purpose hereinafter to be described. Upon the lower end of shaft 82 is a spur gear 84 adapted when in its lower position to mesh with the gear 26 on the horizontal carrier 24, as shown in Figs. 9 and 11. When in operative position the spur gear 84 will be running in the melted wax or other material to be applied to the bottle, as shown in Fig. 11. When the machine is out of operation the shaft 62 and the gear 84 will be lifted to take the gear out of said wax.

'I'he operation of these instrumentalities will now be described. Bottles will be stacked loosely in the guideway upon conveyor 64 with the necks of the bottles erected, whereby said bottles will be caused to contact in a row above conveyor r 65 and will be moved in contact from said conveyor upon plate 66. The feed of conveyor 65 is timed with the operation of the vertical carrier wheel I6, so that at each operation of carrier I6 a bottle is pushed from the plate 66 upon the carrier I6 to the dotted-line position 51. At the same time the bottle 56, which has come up in a compartment 41 of carrier I6 is pushed to the dotted-line position 85 (Fig. 3), where it'rests upon a supporting plate 86. At the-next operation the bottle in the dotted-line position 85 will be pushed from the supporting plate 86 to a rotating delivery table 81, when it will be delivered to any suitable receiving, packing or storing mechanism.

Electric current from wires 4I in heater 40 will have brought the wax 39 in the lower trough 31 to a desired molten state and temperature. At each operation of the vertical carrier I6 bringing down through chute 48 a bottle on the carrier in the dotted-line position 51 of Fig. 3, a bottle will vbe introduced into the channel 42, where its head will contact with the rotating table 24 and the bottle will be withdrawn from its compartment 41 just in time with the succeeding operation of vertical carrier I6 to introduce another bottle into channel 42. 'I'his will continue until the entire channel is filled, as shown in Fig. 10. At a succeeding operation of the vertical carrier I6 the bottles in the channel 42 will have the dotted-line position shown in Fig. 10. That is, a bottle indicated in dotted lines at `88 will have the forward part only above the carrier top 54 at the moment of actuation of carrier I6, which will take the bottle out of channel 42 in the position on carrier I6 indicated in full lines by bottle 56 in Fig. 3. At

the same time, a new bottle coming down through passageway 48 will go with this compartment 41 into the channel 42 and will be removed therefrom by continued rotation of the table 24. In this manner the bottles will be successively fed to the passageway 42 with their thickened neck portions just dipped into the fluid hot wax substance 39, and will remain therein (either for a full revolution or for a part of a revolution, according to the adjustment of the table as horizontal or tilted) during an entire revolution of said table 24. After the bottles have been withdrawn they will be lifted step by step to the upright position of Fig. 3, giving opportunity for melted wax to drain, and then will be discharged upon receiving table 81.

It will be noted that the table 24 has the conical surface 25 any element of which forms an arc of the circle described by the outer edges of the bottles on carrier I6, Fig. 7. This table 24 of solid metal dips into the heated material all the way around, preferably being tipped so that its uptipped portion has its surface continually out of the melted wax while the downtipped surface dips beneath the surface of the melted wax at its lowest point just sumciently to carry the rims of the bottles suiliciently dipped in the wax, in practice form one-thirty second to one-sixteenth of an inch. Because, however, the table 24 has its outer edges at all times immersed in the hot wax, the table itself becomes heated.

As the bottles are moved about through a complete revolution on table 24, the first effect (either when the bottles pass immediately into melted wax when the table is horizontal, or when they move on the hot dry part of the table when it is tilted) is to begin to heat the bottle itself and the air within the bottle. -This heatig of the air has the effect of course of expanding the air, which tends to make it flow out of the neck of the bottle all around the lip thereof, and which positively holds the wax back from contacting with the inside of the neck and prevents the formation of a iilm of wax on the inside of the bottle where it is not desired. Throughout the entire circuit on the platform or table 24 this heating and expansion of air will continue, small bubbles of air pasing out all around the inner edge of the neck of the bottle so when the bottle leaves the melted f wax it will lbe practically entirely free from a lm of wax on the inside of the bottle. The wax forms upon the upper edge of the lip about the neck of the bottle and over the outside for a 5 short distance, but not on the inside of the cylindrical part of the neck, which is very desirable, since it might otherwise interfere with the use of stoppers and also the nlm would be broken by the employment of Stoppers.

Where table 24 is tilted the bottles will come into the plane of vertical carrier I6 partially drained on account of passing up upon a partially-dried surface. Where table 24 is horizontal the bottles will, of course, have the rim of the neck still fully immersed. When the vertical carrier I6 removes the bottles the rim of the bottle continues to contact with the surface 25 of table 24, as shown in Fig. '7. Since the conical surface 25 is hot, and at this point dry, rubbing the said rims in contact with such hot, dry surface removes most of the excess material or wax on the outer edge of the rim which slowly runs down said hot surface until when that portion of the surface has completed another complete revolu- 25 tion it will again be substantially dry. The bottle lifted to the position shown in Fig. '1 in contact with surface 25 remains in this draining position during the rest between steps, and is further rubbed in the next succeeding step and cools during the next two rests and steps, which will bring the bottle vertical, where it is pushed off on the revolving table 81, where it is fully cooled and the wax completely hardened, the resulting 'film of wax being exceedingly thin and altoget-her outside the interior of the neck of the bottle as required.

In practice it has been found that this device will operate satisfactorily as above described. To make certain that bottles will be accurately posi- 40 tioned for introduction into the compartments 41 from the conveyor 65, I may employ the construction shown in Figs. 4a and 4b, wherein cams |41 are provided at the sides of the container portions of the bottle-containing pockets 41 on 45 the vertical rotating carrier I6. It follows that as this cam I 41 passes the bottle-holding platform 66 it will hold back the nearest adjacent bottle 46 until a pocket 41 is in position to receive a bottle, thus insuring against feeding of untreat- 50 ed bottles 01T of the carrier I6 to platform 86, and insuring accurate positioning of the bottles in the several succeeding pockets, and securing against breakage.

In the form of device for applying my process illustrated in Figs. 12, 13 and 14, I employ a large wheel-like table member 90, its hub 9| supported on a thrust bearing 92 to rotate about a shaft 93 suitably supported by a pedestal 94 in such manner that the plane of the table is slightly tilted from the horizontal. 'I'he outer periphery of the tableA 90 carries an insulated annular trough member 95 adapted to contain melted wax with a.

multiplicity of spaced heating elements as hereinafter described. The table is rotated slowly, in

practice it requiring about one minute for each complete revolution. Owing to the tilt the annular ,carrier bar 96 for receiving the edges of the rims of the bottles will have its surface immersed in the wax for a part of said revolution,

in practice about one-third, and said surface will be out of the wax for the rest of the period of the revolution. All of the carrier, however, will have its body portion immersed in the heated wax and the surface will be heated to substantially the temperature of the melted wax throughout the entire circumference thereof. In consequence of this operation the surface out of the wax will be hot and in large part will be dry. The bottles placed upon this surface near the center of the dry portion will be preheated before reaching the Wax, thus heating the air Within the bottles and starting its expulsion around the rim to prevent inflow of wax to the inside of the bottle neck.

The bottles will be moved through the heated wax and then will be carried along the part of the uptilted carrier bar in a draining position for about a third of the revolution with the rim of the bottle in contact with the hot surface of the annular carrier bar. This will result in substantially complete drainage before the bottle reaches the point of withdrawal, which is of course near the same point where it was put on the runway.

An advantageous feature of tilting the wheel table comes from the fact that thereby the melted wax in the annular chamber or trough is given a continuous wave-like current movement through said trough, whereby its temperature is maintained uniform, and there will be no hot spaces over and cold spaces between the heater elements hereinafter described. And, specifically, annular supporting band 96 is held by means of bolts 91 spaced from the walls of the trough as clearly indicated at 98 in Fig. 14, and also at each side in Fig. l2. In the bottom of the annular trough 95 are a series of heating elements 99 supplied with electricity from the lead wires |00, IOI, |02, |03, |04 and |05, which wires run to annular contacts I 06 on a supporting table |01, said contacts being fed with electrical current from wires |08 carried from electrical cable |09. As shown by dotted line |I0, the plane of the trough 95 is at a slight angle to the horizontal, so that if liquid wax therein at one side, as indicated at I I I, is even with or slightly below the top of the supporting annular band 96, the wax at the other side, as indicated at II2, will have a suitable depth for immersing the protruding part of the neck of the bottle. By means of suitable power connected with cable or belt II3 surrounding the outside of the trough member 95 the entire mechanism will be driven at a suitable speed. 'I'he operator stands in a given position, as at I I4, and puts bottles into the trough at one side and withdraws them from the trough at the other side, where they may go to a bottling machine or to packing and storing facilities. The supporting band 96 everywhere overlying wax andheating elements will be very considerably heated, which will gradually heat the bottles, the neck of course being heated rst.

The third method of carrying out my process simply and economically is illustrated in Figs. l5 to 22 inclusive. In this form an insulated trough I I5 is supported upon a stand |I6 and is adapted to hold wax or other suitable material |I1 which is heated by electrical elements I|8 served by wires II9. Within the trough |I5 is a supporting grid |20 comprising side members I 2|, I 22 which overlap the edges |23 and |24 of the trough or receptacle I|5 and which are pivotally secured upon a rod |25 journalled in ears |26 and |21 fast on the trough member II5. By means of cross supports |28 and pairs of separated longitudinal supports |29 or pairs of contacting longitudinal supports |30, a grid is built up in position to receive the ends of bottles as they are packed and shipped in cartons, the ends of the bottles being supported upon longitudinal grid members I 29, I 30, as indicated in Figs. 15 and 18. As indicated in Figs. 19 and 20, bottles come in cartons i3l, usually two dozen in a carton, said cartons being divided into compartments |32 by means of suitable longitudinal and transverse partitions |33. I provide a cover member |34, shown in plan in Fig. 20, which has surrounding side members |35 preferably ared at the edges, as indicated at |36 and having a top |31 formed with a multiplicity of` openings |38 positioned to, come directly above the necks of bottles, as clearly shown in Fig. 20. 'Ihe cover member |34 has handles |39 by which it is positioned and depending portions |40 extending from the ends by means of which the device is rested upon a table or platform with the bottles positioned therein. In using this device the cover aps |4| of the carton or packing case are turned down, as indicated in Fig. 19 and the cover member |34 is placed -over the carton so as to rest upon the upper edges thereof, as clearly shown in Figs. 19 and 20, in which latter ligure theupper ends of the bottle necks are visible. Both carton and cover member are then turned into the position of Fig. 21, when the bottles will gravltate down the compartments |32 and the necks thereof will protrude through the openings |38, being held by the supporting members |40. In this position, by use of the handles |39, the carton and cover, with the necks of the bottles protruding, is transferred to the trough member VI l5. As shown in Fig. 18, the leg members |40 come on each end of said trough member, the top |31 of the cover member rests upon the outer edges of the trough member and the bottle necks will be positioned upon the supports |29 and |30, where they will be just immersed within the heated wax, whose level is indicated at |42. After they have been lmmersed fora certain length of time the grid member formed within the bars |2| and |22 is rocked upon its axis |25 by means of a foot treadle |43 connected by a link |44 and maintained in normal level position by a spring |45. When the carrier is rocked to the dotted-line position indicated at |46 in Fig. 15, itis retained in that position for a sumcient length of time for the surplus melted wax to drain oil?.

In this form of apparatus for practicing my process it is necessary to maintain the wax at a hotter temperature than in the other forms, in which, particularly the large wheel trough 30, a comparatively low temperature above the melting point of the wax is all that is requisite. In the last described device, all of the bottle necks being dipped in at once, there is a tendency to cool the wax and cause it to congeal about the lrims of the bottle necks. This is oilset to some extent by the excess heat of the wax, which also instantly starts heating the air, causing it to tend to ilow outwardly at the edge of the rim of the bottle on the inside and repel inflow of wax. Very quickly, also, the wax which is solidified upon the bottle rims remelts. When the bottle rims have reached substantially the temperature of the wax, and the carrier is rocked to the dotted-line position |46, the bottles are held angularly positioned for drainage. All of the surplus wax on the outside of the bottle rims will run around such rims to their lowest points, where it will drip away before the bottles cool sufficiently to solidify the wax. When the drainage is complete the case of bottles is removed and reverted to hold the bottles in erect position, where the very thin illm of wax remaining on the rims and the outside of the rims of the bottles quickly cools and solldifies and the bottles are in position for transport and use.

back all parts of the liquid when the container is restored from pouring to non-pouring position, with the result that there is no drippage from the pouring orifice.

The various methods of practicing my process are shown herein as applicable speciically to bottles. It is to be understood, however, that the invention applies to all forms of containers from which liquids may be poured, and to all types of liquids, and is not to be limited to bottles or to bottles adapted to contain bluing, such as are speciiically shown.

I claim:

1. A process of preparing liquid containers having pouring orifices so as to render them nondripping, which consists in melting'and heating a liquid-repellant material having capability of solidifying on a surface in extremely thin and strongly adherent films, introducing the edges of the pouring orifice into said heated liquid-repellant material, retaining said edges in said liquidrepellant material until adjacent parts of the container are heated to a temperature above the melting point of said heated material, subsequently withdrawing said edges from the melted material, causing excess of said material to be removed therefrom. and cooling the material on the top and outside of said rim until it forms a hard, stable film. l

2. A process of preparing bottles so as to render them non-dripping, which consists in melting and heating a liquid-repellant material having capability of solidifying on a surface in extremely thin and strongly adherent films, inverting the bottle and setting its rim upon a hot surface to preheat the rim and neck of the bottle and to heat the air therein to cause it to tend to push out around the neck of the bottle and prevent inflow of heated material, introducing the edges of the rim of the bottle into said heated liquid-repellant material, causing excess of said material to be removed therefrom, and cooling the material remaining on the top and outside of said rim until it forms a hard, stable film.

3. A process of preparing bottles so as to render them non-dripping which consists in melting and heating a liquid-repellant material having capability of solidifying on a surface in extremely thin and strongly adherent films, holding the bottles inverted against a support, heating the support so that thereby the bottle neck will be heated, and carrying the bottle on the'support into and out of the hot melted material whereby expanding air within the bottle iiowing out around the supported edge of the bottle-rim will prevent entrance of liquid-repellant material to the inside of the neck and a very thin film of the liquid-repellant material will be laid on the outside only of the bottle-rim and neck.

4. A process of preparing bottlesso as to render them non-dripping which consists in melting and heating a liquid-repellant material having capability of solidifying on a surface in extremely thin and strongly adherent films, holding the bottles inverted against a support, heating the support so that thereby the bottle neck will be heated, carrying the bottle on the support into and out of the hot melted material whereby expanding air within the bottle flowing out around the supported edge of the bottle-rim will prevent entrance of liquid-repellant material to the inside of the neck and a very thin film of the liquid-rei pellant material will be laid on the outside of the bottle-rim and neck, and permitting excess melted material to drain therefrom While the bottle remains supported by said heated surface.

5. A process of preparing bottles so as to render 3 them non-dripping which consists in melting and heating a liquid-repellant material having capability of solidifying on a surface in extremely thin and strongly adherent films, holding the bottles inverted against a support, heating the support 5 so that thereby the bottle neck will be heated, carrying the bottle on the support into and out of the hot melted material whereby expanding air within the bottle owing out aroundthe supported edge of the bottle-rim will prevent entrance of J liquid-repellant material to the inside of the neck and a very thin lm of the liquid-repellent material will be laid on the outside only of the bottle-rim and neck, and continuing to support said bottle in an inverted position until excess 5 material has been drained therefrom and the remaining film has cooled and become hard.

6. A process of preparing containers having pouring orifices so as to render them non-dripping which consists in melting and heating par- 3 aln wax of a high melting point for such wax having capability of solidifying on a surface in extremely thin and strongly adherent films, holding the bottles inverted against a support, heating the support so that thereby the bottle-neck will be heated, and carrying the bottle support into and out of the hot melted material whereby expanding air within the bottle flowing out around the supported edge of the bottle-rim will prevent entrance of liquid-repellant material to the inside of the neck land a very thin 111m of the liquidrepellant material will be laid on the outside only of the rim and neck.

7. A process of preparing bottles so as to render them non-dripping which consists in melting and heating paraffin wax of a high melting point for such wax having capability of solidifying on a surface in extremely thin and strongly adherent 'llms, preliminarily heating the neck of the bottle to cause the air in the bottle to expand and be expelled around the mouth of the bottle, inserting the rim of the bottle into said heated wax and retaining it there for a suicient duration of time to heat it to substantially the temperature of the heated wax, maintaining the temperature of said heated wax constant, and thereafter withdrawing said rim from the heated wax and causing removal of excess wax and cooling, whereby a very thin film of said wax will be laid on the outside only of the bottle-rim and neck.

ROBERT E. FORD. 

